


Beginnings, Ends and some Middles.

by LazyWriter1977



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Lemons, Multi, Still working on the rest, adding as it goes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-18 00:00:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17570435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LazyWriter1977/pseuds/LazyWriter1977
Summary: Anything Avatar beyond and some. This is mostly bits of storie from one shots, to overlapping plots. Basically, this is something without labels that I felt like working on, that is my idea of what some stories would be like.





	1. The Firelord and the Kyoshi Warrior

“ _My fellow citizens. Thank you for gathering here on such short notice. The last few days have been traumatic for all of us. Our children were taken, our parents grew fearful and our streets descended into chaos. And as your Fire Lord, I… Well… I responded poorly. Security and Freedom exist in a delicate balance. I did not maintain that balance well. My recent decisions were based not on reason, not on wisdom, but on fear. For that, I ask your forgiveness. You should never feel like prisoners in your own city or suspects in your own home. I resolve to do better… I will continue striving to be a Fire Lord worthy of you. I’m grateful for your patience. I’m grateful for your trust...” (Zuko - Smoke and Shadow)  
_

 

There was a point in her life that knowing the Fire Lord well enough to know where he would go to be alone, would certainly be as far fetched as a vegetarian Tigerdillo, but it turns out it happened anyway.

 

The Fire Lord was alone, sitting at the edge of the small pond in the middle of the garden.

 

Unsure of her own presence being welcome or not, she took her time to watch him.

 

His hair was loose, the headpiece lying carefully on the ground over his cloak and shoulder pads, only the inner robes remained, giving him the impression he was a kid in sleeping clothes rather than one of the most powerful people in the world. Indeed Zuko was a very sad picture, sitting there with the sun shining upon his dark hair, eyes downcast as he threw small crumbs of bread for the turtle ducks.

 

It didn’t start instantly this connection.

 

It had been slow, and she had not even realized it was happening until it did. First by watching him struggling day after day, through sleepless nights and ill advice. The need to help an acquaintance soon became a need to help a friend, and when her first attempts backfired, she was there, kneeling and reaching out for his hand. It had seemed such a simple gesture at the time, watching as he stared at her like a starving man in need of companionship.

 

When he was finally better, she finally got to meet another part of him, a more happy one. She watched his back as he spoke to his advisers and his shape when he tiredly trudged over to the bed. Her ears would perk at Iroh’s every conspiratorial tale and, wouldn’t you know, now there was a small part of her heart going to him at any moment despite her professional mind.

 

Carefully, as if afraid to disturb the quiet moment, she walked into the garden taking out her boots and headpiece on the way. Her trained eyes identified the moment he realized her presence by the way his shoulders tensed, but then she was already sitting gently by his side.

 

“You’re way too sneaky” He complained to which she could only giggle.

 

“Force of habit.”

 

“Right.” She caught his look by the corner of her eye. “I thought I told you to go rest”

 

“You told me, you didn’t order me” She pointed out, her heart lifting when he smiled a little in silence. “You did well, you know that right?”

 

“I guess” He stopped short, and Suki waited, taking a piece of bread from his hands. Crumbling it in tiny pieces she threw them at the pond, watching the tiny birds gulping it up in small bursts of energy, before running back to their mother. “I thought… After Yun Dao, I thought I was done messing it up.”

 

She nodded. The Yun Dao crisis had not gone away quietly, it was still a process in the works, and Zuko clearly held scars from that time, her own were a little more faint but lingering.

 

“You know what? Every leader messes up once in a while, some badly, others not so much” She worried her lips, not looking at him. “You’re the first one I ever saw apologizing for not being perfect, though.”

 

He grimaced, shadows crossing his expression. “My father would say it’s a weakness...”

 

“He would” Suki could guess that much. “But I think we already established he is a downright jerk.”

 

His lips tugged a little.

 

“Have you ever...”

 

“Messed up?” She questioned, seeing him flinch. “Of course I did. Back during the war, for months I blamed myself for getting my sisters imprisoned.”

 

“But that wasn’t your fault!”

 

Suki shook her head. “I didn’t think so at the time. We were six against three, we were armored and armed, and still, we lost. I could barely keep Appa from getting captured.” She brushed her fingertips over the golden seal on her bracelet and shuddered with the cold memory of an small cell. “I trained for this since I was eight years old you know, my sisters all about the same age and yet when it counted, the moment we had the fire princess in sight we got beaten, captured and Ba Sing Se was lost because of it… So I kept thinking I had failed them somehow, that I didn’t train them properly, that I let them be sheltered in Kyoshi for too long, that I should be able to protect them...”

 

Her voice trailed off. She thought the bitterness had been gone, but talking about it simply made it come back to her full force. Something inside her was still itching for a test of skills as immature as it sounded.

 

“You shouldn’t blame yourself. Because of that Dai Li guy, Azula might have conquered Ba Sing Se anyway, besides, would you blame the other Kyoshi Warriors for losing a battle?”

 

“No, never” She said looking over at his soft smile, it looked good on him, very wise. “Would you blame someone else if they made your mistakes?”

 

For a second the Fire Lord blinked at her, his mind quickly registering what she did as an endearing red color bloomed on his cheeks. “N-no”

 

“There we go” Suki said happily. “And your apology, I don’t think its weakness, I think your people are better off for it...”

 

“How so?” His eyes widened, as if the possibility was unthinkable.

 

“Well, how can they not? Their own Fire Lord is humble enough to realize his faults, and that is strength as far as I can see it. How many leaders out there deny such things? Or think themselves perfect? You taught them no one is above that, and you took your first step in gaining their trust...”

 

“You… You have a good point”

 

“Of course I do” She said smirking. “for what is worth though, I have complete faith you’ll get there.”

 

A turtle duck suddenly came a little closer, and Suki let him take some more crumbs, raining the food upon the happy little fella. Staring at the pond and suddenly conscious that she had been standing and walking all the day, the giddy warrior slowly lowered her sweaty aching feet into the water, a sigh escaping her lips at the sensation. She took a glance a Zuko quickly to find him bewildered and a wave of embarrassment burned her cheeks.

 

“Oh… Huh… Sorry, is this improper?”

 

“N-not really”

 

“It’s just, I was walking around all day, and my feet are killing me”

 

“I understand, believe me, it’s just that, no one ever does that”

 

She blinked. “What? Why not? Is everyone really that upti… HA!” A squeal left her lips as she lifted her foot from the water, a tiny turtle duck dangling from her big toe. The sting was not hard enough to break skin, but it still hurt enough that she dangled her leg out, throwing the tiny bird back. It fell into the water, swimming to the surface and retreated back to his mother, quacking angrily at her.

 

Hoping her toe was not swollen, Suki glared angrily at the turtle duck, when a foreign sound suddenly raised from her side. Foreign in that she couldn’t recall hearing that voice doing such a thing before. It took a while for her to process the event.

 

Zuko was laughing.

 

Zuko, the angst lord, had his eyes closed, mouth agape, chest panting in full blown laughter by her side.

 

He seemed to become aware of her staring, but even as he tried to regain control of his facial muscles, there was still the suggestion of a chuckle by his lips.

 

“Sorry… I didn’t mean to...”

 

“You can laugh!” She said grinning widely and Zuko stared at her for a moment, out of words. Suki was delighted. “I didn’t think you had in you to laugh like that, I’m impressed...”

 

“W-what?”

 

“I-I mean… Y-you… You never… I never heard you laughing” She said, thankful for her war paint more than ever. “Oh Oma and Shu, the Fire Lord can laugh.”

 

“You shouldn’t be so surprised.”

 

“That you’re not stiff and humorless?” He sent her what could be a threatening look or a pout and she giggled louder, stopping for a moment to regard his confused demeanor. Hands sweaty all of the sudden, she dove right in. “It sounds nice you know? Your laugh… It’s… Really nice.”

 

“Huh… Thanks...”

 

She was not sure how, but Suki suddenly found those blazing eyes calling to her. It pulled at her gaze as they stared at one another, a long moment passing, something that was not completely unfamiliar and yet, feeble, impossible to grasp, it floated between them. Feeling her heart doing flips, Suki suddenly gained strength to look away.

 

“Y-you should just rub it...”

 

“What?”

 

“Your toe, just rub it, it won’t hurt much or anything”

 

She reached out and did just that, feeling the pain subsiding. “You know that from experience?”

 

Zuko had no war paint to hide his blush from her, for which Suki was glad.

 

Soon, the sun began to set, the sight before them going through many colors, colors that filled her with warmth as the first stars showed themselves above… They waited the night in silent companionship.

 

 


	2. Suki

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a little piece because i'm a Suki fan, and I was always disappointed we didn't get more of her backstory.

  
Sitting alone in the shores of the Unagi’s bay, Suki couldn’t help but let her thoughts wander to places far away from her home. There was no escaping the pang that it brought, the feeling that made her feel uncomfortable inside her own skin like she was in an old set of clothes that wouldn’t fit her anymore.

Tasting the salt in the gentle breeze, she felt the rough scroll with her fingers before letting out a long sigh. She had nothing to do for the day except wait. Koko was training the young girls, the island was at peace, prospering with commerce and the money Zuko offered as compensation for his crimes. All in all, Kyoshi had never been better, its markets were full, everyone had food and warmth, and children could go out to swim, so it stood to reason she should feel as hesitant to leave her home as she did back then.

We, of Kyoshi, look after our own.

These words had been with her for so long, it was easy to take them for granted, but of course, when the Avatar comes to a place, Suki should’ve expected nothing would ever be the same, because suddenly there was a call nagging at her conscience, whispers of suffering far beyond these small familiar shores.

The sound of soft steps upon the sand, alerted her to a new arrival, and in seconds Ty Lee was falling by her side, sitting crosslegged and wide-eyed.

“I love this place, the sunset looks so pretty.” She said, brushing her hair away from her face, her smile matching the pink of her clothes.

“I know.” Suki replied, watching the hues of orange and red, slowly changing to violet and blue. "Mother used to always bring me here after training, that was before she became the big leader of all of us of course, but even later she would visit and we would have lunch together in the sand."

“That sounds very nice, my mother never had much time for me alone. It does explain why you call all of us here once a week." Ty Lee said wistfully, and for a while, both protected the quiet peace between them. "You know, I was looking everywhere for you, I thought we had a meeting soon.”

“I know, don’t worry, I'm just preparing myself. Last time I left it wasn’t on the best terms.”

“It wasn’t?”

“No.” Suki thought of Sokka’s lips and smirked. “Last time, Aang had just left, and I knew I couldn’t stay put, so I summoned a meeting with all the leaders of the island and gave this big speech about helping, but mother was not happy about that.”

“Well, it must be because she loves you lots.”

“I know it was, I never doubted it.” She looked down at the scroll again and brushed her thumb over the broken seal, the fire nation flame glimmering in the red wax. “We better get going I guess, come on.”

Rising to her feet, Suki brushed the sand away from her loose green robes, and walked with Ty Lee back towards the village where people left behind the day of work, lanterns were lit all along the street, villagers were calling their children inside, or getting dinner ready in a hundredth delicious scents and all over the Kyoshi the night would settle as it had for hundredths of years.

The door to the dojo was wide open when they approached, but the warriors were all absent. Waiting for them inside, were only Ouaji’s stern face and the Leader of Warriors, Jaya, wearing green formal robes and an inquiring touch to her deep green eyes.

As both girls sat down, Suki was surprised at how solemn Ty Lee seemed, and she was glad she could tell the seriousness of the situation. Because even she knew the results, there were lines of respect demanded by certain actions.

Steeling herself, Suki silently offered the scroll to the leader of all warriors in the island. Although Suki led her own team, she was responsible only for one village’s safety, with at least half a dozen small places spread along Kyoshi, each with their own team of warriors, Jaya was given the role of nominal leadership of all of them.

“I see” Jaya showed the scroll to Ouaji, and the old man nodded after reading it.

“The Fire Nation wants our help? Is this real?”

“Yes, Mai wrote it herself.” Ty Lee took her cue to explain. “She is just asking for help protecting Zuko, I mean, the Fire Lord, because there have been attempts at his life, and she is his girlfriend, she must be really worried.”

“She says there is no one she can trust more.” Jaya pointed out, her dark skin furrowing in her brow. “She is a friend of yours then.”

“Well, we were best friends since the Royal Academy really.” Ty Lee answered quickly. “She didn’t want to at first, but I think I really grew on her, and then Azula came along and we started to hang out together, and Azula would ask about my acrobatics, but Mai never cared much.”

“What Ty Lee is trying to say ” Suki interrupted as gently as possible, smiling at her friend “Is that Mai wouldn’t ask this of us if it wasn’t important.”

Of course, Suki did not know Mai well enough beyond the fact she was really good at pai sho, a little hobby both of them appreciated.

“She asks for warriors to see to the security of the Fire Lord, but I’m not sure if that is wise.” Ouaji spoke calmly, but Suki was aware that might not even be his position. In all the years growing up in Kyoshi, she learned fast that Ouaji was there to offer opposition because it was needed. “The war has ended yes, but there are still many lingering scars from the war, should we risk been seeing as helping the Fire Nation when so many still hate them?”

Suki bit the inside of her cheek, having already prepared an answer to that.

“I don’t see why not if that is the case it is even more important that we show the war is really over, a show of friendship and trust between two nations.”

Ouaji opened his mouth, but Jaya was faster. “You have a point Suki, but Kyoshi Island was always its own country, and our decisions should also be our own, I doubt the Earth Kingdom would ever consider our actions as their own.”

“Then let it be, the Fire Nation won’t see it that way, and as you said, we make our own decisions.”

There was the ghost of a smile playing at her leader's lips, beside her, the old man nodded, and Suki felt her shoulders lowering, one argument was made, now for the next. “It would be a good profit as well, our warriors as personal protector to the Fire Lord, would bring income and reputation.”

“Which can be a doubled edged sword.”

“It could, but if we have a chance to protect a man willing to make the Fire Nation a better place, why shouldn’t we?”

She waited in silence, and finally, Jaya turned to Ouaji, her green eyes searching. “Very well, and who have you chosen to go to this mission?”

“Ty Lee” Suki felt the girl by her side smiling. “Ami, Fay, Tori and myself.”

“You’re the leader of the warriors of this village Suki.” Ouaji said. “Are you sure you should be leaving Kyoshi behind?”

“I don’t see why not,” Suki said, and something heavy settled in the place her heart should be, in a small place beside the one missing Sokka’s presence. “Aiko has been my second for years now, she led the girls back when they were in prison and really grew up as a warrior, she is perfect to take up my position.”

“What about the training of the younger girls?”

“Koko has been doing that job perfectly since I left, I barely need to do anything really.”

A long pause followed, in which Suki could see Jaya’s eyebrow rising only a bit.

“Very well then, you better get ready to depart, I shall personally draft an official reply to the Fire Nation, and see this matter arranged.” Suki bowed in respect and made to follow the others outside until Jaya called her to stay.

Silently, she sat back down, watching the woman as she poured a cup of tea for each of them, calloused hands working as delicately as they would a silky thread, and yet Suki lost count of how many times she watched those hands taking down an enemy with a solid punch.

“You know, when I first saw that small eight-year-old orphan playing with wooden fans at my dojo, I could never have guessed what wild daughter you would be.”

“Thanks mom,” Suki said, smirking into her tea as she realized this wouldn’t be an official meeting, but a real conversation.

“I really wished you would stay, but I can’t bring myself to ask that of you, after all, your friends need your help.” She paused, her long hair falling in soft curls around her pursed lips. “But that is not the only reason you’re going, is it?”

A pause.

“I-I don’t know what you mean.”

A beat.

“Oh, Suki, you were never good at hiding stuff from me young lady” Her Mother smirked and leaned back, completely leaving any sign of formality as she looked towards the ceiling. “I was so angry and proud when you marched off to war, have I told that? I know I gave you a hard time, spilling about the ways of our people and whatnot, but when you stood before our council, speaking from your heart about what a true warrior should do.”

Mother shook her head, and Suki could almost feel it once more, the nervous sweat gathering at her back, the warm room with leaders from all over the island, the warpaint drying on her face as her voice hurt after so much use.

“What was it? That you called it?”

“A warrior can’t have honor if she denies the help she can give.”

“You basically silenced the room.” Mother inhale and her shoulders sagged, she seemed very old then and Suki couldn’t help but wonder what she looked like. Was she a young idealist? A child who didn’t know any better? A rebel? _I helped people but I also ended up in prison._ “Angry and proud, the perfect words.”

“And now?” Suki asked a question she hadn’t dare to utter in the whole year she had been home.

“Now? Now I want you to be happy” Mother spoke, softly. “But you haven’t been truly happy since you came back, have you?”

“I’m not...” Suki paused, looking away. “There were good days.”

“When that Water Tribe was visiting?”

“Those too” Suki muttered feeling her face heating up.

Coming back to Kyoshi had been something close to outer wordily at first, days when she felt relieved and happy. Sokka had come back with her, and their days would be spent striding across the marked, while their nights would be filled with passion and nude skin under her sheets. She had gone back to training, eat with Mother and chatted with dear friends, but for some reason, none of that lasted and Suki somehow was ashamed that it hadn’t. Sokka had gone away, the days became dull and the nights summoned nightmares of battle and death.

“I knew this would happen you know,” Her Mother said again, and Suki was surprised to feel a gentle hand holding her shoulder, when did she move? “War and battle, they leave a mark on people, but more than that, traveling the world makes everything else seems small.”

Suki gulped, brushing away the tears she could feel gathering around her eyes. “I didn’t mean to feel like that, I really just wanted to be home.”

“But now you feel stuck.”

A nod was all the answer she could give as she realized how much her Mother knew, truly, how could she believe she wouldn’t? And truly, Suki couldn’t help but long for what was beyond Kyoshi Island.

“A-are you mad at me?”

“Never.” Mother said quietly, pulling her into a hug. “Even at a young age, you always knew what you wanted, what you had to do. Be that taking up a war fan or giving off speeches to your sisters and stuff like that.”

“I never apologized for that.”

“And you shouldn’t.” Her mother pulled away, her smile a small sun that had followed Suki from a young age. “So you wish to become yojimbo to the Fire Lord?”

“Yes”

“So let me send you away with my love this time, instead of a warrior’s respect.”

“I like the warrior’s respect.”

“Cheeky,” Mother said, and Suki allowed herself to sink into the hug, knowing she would miss it every day.

 

 


End file.
